@Henry Given the choice between the "package" or the "addon" (eg for 'stats'), which is the one to use: the package or the addon?
I'd plump for the "addon", because you can keep it up-to-date using pacman. But of course you have to opt to install it using pacman, whereas the "package" gets installed when J is first installed. Are there maybe other things to consider here? AFAICS there's no good reason not to install *all* the addons using pacman, and keep them up to date the same way. They don't take up much room, don't take long to download, and don't get in your way if you don't use them. Also, downloading an addon will automatically install any (updated) labs that come with it. Am I overlooking something? ...Apart from the possibility of people (like me) releasing a buggy version of an addon? :-) Mind you, there's a gotcha lurking here. If you enter: open 'stats' open 'stats/base/random' in the first case you get the "package", in the second you get the "addon". You have to be alert and watch for the path that appears in the window header. In j602, the verb: "open" uses a system noun: PUBLIC_j_ to decide where to look for 'stats'. AFAIK, PUBLIC_j_ is created by the script: ~system/extras/config/scripts.ijs . But I don't know whether pacman updates this script, ever. From the date on the .ijs file, I suspect it can. Comments? (Like: what's different in j701?) On Wed, Aug 8, 2012 at 11:55 PM, Henry Rich <[email protected]> wrote: > The verbs are defined in the 'stats' package. > > To see what they are, I do > > open 'stats' > > that is a 3-line verb. The last line looks promising, so I do > > open '~system\packages\stats\statdist.ijs' > > That brings up the header, which shows that > > normalrand > > is what you are looking for. You can scroll down to see the header of the > verb. > > Then, > > load 'stats' > > to load the scripts, and > > normalrand 5 > 0.351534 _1.1435 _0.097765 0.378719 0.543748 > > Henry Rich > > > On 8/8/2012 6:37 PM, Owen Marschall wrote: >> >> Hi everyone, >> >> Quick question: >> How do you generate normally distributed random numbers? I remember one of >> the labs showed me how, but I've tried every possible combination of >> abbreviations of "normal" and "random," yet nothing's working. I'm guessing >> the lab must have loaded some package I forgot about. What package is this? >> I've looked through the labs and can't find it. >> >> Also, does anyone know how to make the J dictionary work on a mac? My >> computer opens it with gedit for some reason and won't compile it. >> >> Thanks, >> Owen >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm >> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
